Mind if I cut in?

Well everyone, of course it has been forever since I've posted, and of course, a lot of things have happened. The one that's having the most impact on our day to day lives? Miss Lily is cutting her first tooth. Yes, she is fussy, cranky, and largely refusing her food. We're trying some homeopathic teething tablets for her, frozen wrung-out washcloths, and her favorite teething toy-toe separators. Yes, like what you put between your toes when you paint your nails. I had purchased several a while ago because they spelled out cheesy words (foxy, etc) and they were in a dollar bin at Target. i lucked out one day when I was running out of ideas and she had no interest in her normal teething fare.

She has curls above her ears and around the back of her head. I've started conditioning her hair-as a curly girl, I know how important it is to keep those guys moisturized! I'm considering buying some baby friendly curl-holder. In the photo at the top of the post, Lily displays a little bed head, but you can kind of tell how her hair is getting curly.


Aunt Julie gave Lily her first taste of a lime. The results are posted below.




I tried to duplicate this hilarious experiment for Glenn with a lemon, but Miss Thing one upped me-she ate that entire wedge. She sucked the pulp off of the rind, then chewed the rind! I'm cringing just thinking of it. Here she is, showing that citrus fruit who's boss.


Of course, she's getting around like crazy. Meal preparation has become a race--our kitchen/dining/living area are a straight shot, so I place her at the totally opposite side in the living room with a toy, run to the kitchen, and she tries to get to me before I finish. Usually, this means I finish with her standing behind me, face in my calves and gripping my pant legs. She is so funny, she walks around the couch, around the bookshelves, under the table while holding onto chairs. The girl has no limits. We expect her to take a step on her own any day now. I took this photo this morning; she is looking awfully tall next to those bookshelves! Today I managed to keep her from pulling my books down--I'm not usually so lucky!

Photo purge

What a nice morning! I woke up today rather slowly, but now that I'm rolling, I feel like this is going to be a really good day. I'm watching a gnat fly around Glenn's open terrarium, so I'm not as worried about the Venus fly trap starving. Lily is chasing ice around her high chair tray, and I'm thinking about the couple of errands and house tasks I have to complete before I can craft later.

Because it feels like an agenda sort of day, I thought it was about time I purged a few photos of Lily's more interesting ventures that haven't made it out yet. No real story line here, just some catch ups. (there's that word again!)

A few weeks ago, we had some friends over for some terrarium building. We made open and closed terrariums, ate some food, and channeled our inner Martha. Lily kept crawling over and grasping the soft ferns, certain that they would give her those leafy green nutrients she's missing out on. (No, Dad, I haven't been sneaking broccoli purée into her applesauce anymore.) The photo at the top of the post shows Lily and her Daddy enjoying the fruits of our labor.

Lily is quite the social butterfly. She is on a first name basis with all of the faculty in my program, and she makes it to all of the best parties. Here, Lily plays at Nana's feet during her cousin Blake's second birthday party.


I had mentioned in an earlier post that Lily was a nature girl. Several months ago, Lily got to visit the Dallas World Aquarium when we met my dear friend Jen and her family on a hot summer's day. She looked at some of the biggest fish in the larger tanks and she seemed very interested in the waterfall. Here we are posing for a photo op.


Lily also experienced the State Fair this year; we hope to make it a yearly tradition. It wasn't very interesting for her this year, but I can imagine that before we know it we will be shelling out lots of money on feed for the petting zoo and deep-fried who knows what. Here, you can see Glenn dragged me to the truck display, which was fine because it was an excellent vantage point for Big Tex and the Cotton Bowl.


Speaking of Texas institutions, Lily also made her inaugural visit to North Park to see Santa Claus. Honey came along to help out, which was very good. A six month old in pantyhose is not the easiest creature to wrangle, but Lily did great! She was very interested in Santa; in fact, there are more pictures of her just checking him out than looking at the bell-jingling photographer.


I'm so fortunate to have the flexibility to spend lots of time with my baby girl. I love it that she's so good in public, too. She started getting out with me pretty early, I guess right after the six-week mark, when I started going to postnatal yoga with Jenni Alterman at Rescue Yoga. Jenni helped me make it through my pregnancy fit and healthy, and her postnatal classes were awesome. Lily would usually nap through the hour-long class, and once she got a little older she became a wiggly little resistance weight for me. One day, after our yoga, we met a friend for tea and she snapped the following photo. I used to worry that she slept so much-now I just pray for her to take a decent nap!

Aaaaaalrightey then!

It occurred to me this morning that I rarely write about myself and Glenn. I know, I know, most people want to read about the baby, but just a quick update and we'll move on to her.

Glenn is loving his job at Tillman's Roadhouse (a photo of a seating area near the bar opens the post). It's this great restaurant in the cultural district of Fort Worth. He was hired as the lead cook and has moved on to become the tournant. This means that he jumps in when other cooks are "in the weeds" and helps them get back on track. Some nights he works a station, though; I always know he's been on the grill when he comes home smelling like he was downwind from a barbecue cook off.

I'm completing my thesis for my MA in art history. It focuses on two pieces of early colonial Mexican art from Huejotzinco, in the present day state of Puebla. The first is a set of eight native-produced paintings that were taken by the Spanish and used as evidence in a lawsuit that the conqueror Hernán Cortés brought against the Spanish government. The second is a large altarscreen and the legal contracts drawn up to create it. The writing is slow-going, but I'm finally confident that it will be finished this semester and I'm looking forward to graduating in May. (the 15th, mark your calendars!) Below is one of the paintings.


Alright, so on the Lily front, not a lot new to report. She is standing up unsupported for short intervals, still chattering away. Still army crawling and pulling up on whatever she can get ahold of. Her hair has started to get really curly when it's wet. I love it, and I've started fluffing it up. When I think of curls, volume, and a little bit of crazy, of course, my mind goes straight to the televangelists. So, when we do this to her hair, we call it televangelist hair.


I've tried letting it air dry from this state to see if it will stay curly, but no luck. So the other night I tried drying it with a blow dryer. Surprisingly it didn't bother her, but it didn't curl either. She ended up looking like Ace Ventura. As you can see below, she didn't mind.

Doe, a deer

I feel like I'm always playing catch-up! This morning, I've been attempting to update my thesis bibliography while Miss Lily army crawls across the floor (and always toward a slightly unstable table that may find a new home in the garage for a while.) Thankfully, since Glenn was home with us yesterday, I was able to catch up on some housework. So now, it's time to catch you all up on what's going on in Lily's world.

For those who like facts and figures, Lily is now eight months old and clocking in at 19.5(ish) pounds. I'm not certain about her percentiles, but I feel like she's approaching average rather than remaining on the side of the overachievers. On Sunday, she finished a ten-day round of antibiotics for the third appearance of a cold that became an ear infection. Even sick, she's such a cheerful little thing. Aside from the boogersome nose and rattly cough, the only indication that she didn't feel well was her increased desire to be held and cuddled. As soon as the Tylenol would kick in, though, she just wanted to play.

Play time has become more exciting. For a few weeks, Lily has been trying to stand up in her tub. She would plant her chubby little elbows on the side then slowly push through with her heels, ending up in the bear walk position. Of course, I made her sit back down and tried to prevent it in the first place, but you kind of want to see how these things pan out. So, I had the bright idea of bringing her (empty and dry) tub out of the big tub and into the living room to see what she would do. Clearly, the thing gave her confidence.

Placing the tub near the ottoman, I placed some random trinket (maybe the internet card) in her line of sight on top of the ottoman. She looked at me, looked at the ottoman, then, with hardly a hesitation, she leans over onto the side of the tub, gets her little legs underneath her body, grabs the side of the ottoman, digs her little toes into the tub, and pulled up to standing. I was totally shocked, but she looked at me like "this is what I've been trying to show you! I want to stand up in that tub! I can play limbo with that faucet! I will swing from the handle! I am AMAZING."

So, this complicates things a little. I let her do it a few more times until Glenn points out that encouraging her to stand in her tub will show her that it is okay to do and she will be too hard to wrangle while bathing. (True.) We don't do that anymore, but this is okay because she can pull up with the ottoman now with no other prop. I still have to place something up there for motivation, but she does a great job of getting it. (the grainy video is from my cell phone.)

She is also waving by flapping her hand and sometimes opening and closing it, but this only has a 60/40 chance of happening as an actual response. She still babbles, chatters, and laughs constantly. In fact, in the morning, I'm often woken up by her talking ("BABABAA!!!" If you've seen Mars Attacks, you know how it sounds.) instead of crying, which is a nice development. The newest sound to make it into her repertoire is a tongue click, which she does while also sticking her tongue out and smiling, so it's super cute. She is turning book pages much better now; one book has a sound effect on the last page and she will slowly turn it back and forth so she can hear the noise start and stop. Turning lights off and on has become something of a hobby as well.

One of the funniest things she has come up with is what Glenn calls her "10 Point Buck." Just before Christmas, she started doing this funny pose, where she places both hands, palm facing out, on her forehead. She makes this deadly serious face, and it is hilarious. The photo at the top of the post captures this new feat.


As usual, I'm left thinking about how far she has come, and wondering about what will happen between now and the next chance I get to write a new post. I think she will be crawling completely (not doing the GI Jane belly dragging thing that she's doing now) by Valentine's. I'll keep you posted!

New bow, new book, new year!

What a ride! We had an amazing Christmas. Lily was able to spend time with aunts and uncles, great- and grandparents, cousins, and dogs. Lily loves dogs, and thankfully, we usually have several around. Her great-grandparents Grandmommy and Granddaddy (aka Helen and Red) entertain the little bug before Christmas dinner at Linda's.

...and showing Honey her cool new caterpillar.


She got to see her first snow; she and dad stepped outside for a quick photo op as Glenn, doing his best Magnum PI, left for work on Christmas Eve.

Lily and I were snowed in at Mom's on Christmas Eve, so she got to have her first slumber party with all of her aunts and uncles! She made them feel loved by deciding at one a.m. that it was time to party. Julie and I already knew it was time to party; we had been up drinking champagne, so we let Lily sit in the living room for a bit so she could whoop at the dogs while her poor Aunt Jessie and Uncle Doug tried to sleep. Here they are, looking chipper on Christmas morning, despite their lack of rest.

Here, Lily decides that her Pops is pretty alright.

We all received more gifts than we needed, the best of all being the gift of seeing all of our family. We had an amazing holiday, and we are looking forward to all of the wonderful things that this new year, and decade, will surely bring.

Deck the Halls, Y'all

I feel so grown up. You would think that birthing then caring for a child accomplished that, but as any quick scan of daytime talk show television will illustrate, parenthood does not necessarily equal adulthood. No, my new sense of maturity comes courtesy of my very first Christmas tree.

Glenn and I have never had our own tree, and this year we figured it was high time for one. I made a few stops at Garden Ridge and Target, picking up the requisite balls, lights, topper, and these beautiful ceramic acorns and tiny birds. I was so proud of myself, having purchased everything on sale, and felt certain that a nice tree would cost around fifty dollars. We can do this Christmas decorating thing, I tell myself.

Well, I quickly realized that we also needed a stand, a skirt, stockings, and holders. Hm. With those additional items purchased, I returned home, pleased with my haul. Glenn had planned on surprising us with a tree, but with his schedule, it's hard to be stealthy. He left to "run some errands" and within an hour, he returned with a nice six to eight foot Douglas Fir.

As you probably know, trees cost more than fifty dollars. You may also know that they shed like a Husky in the springtime. We were so naïve, we were genuinely surprised at the range in cost of the trees at the lot, and the tree made the longest possible route through the entire house bypassing only the bedrooms and bathrooms on its path to its final resting place. I should mention that it sits no more than ten feet from the front door, which will be how the tree will make its exit.

After watering and sweeping up after the thing constantly, I sort of understand why people buy fake trees. Sort of. The living room smells so wonderful, and even the best fake trees don't come close to the dense loveliness of a good tree. (Rather, I should say a decent tree, as we had to buy the Pinto of the tree lot.) And, I shouldn't forget to mention that Lily is mesmerized by the tree.

As I type, she is on the floor, repeatedly rolling off of her mat and under the tree's branches. It's great, because throughout the day she will forget the tree is there, and I love catching her face when she sees it. Lily even has her own pink tinsel tree that Honey bought her, and she finds it equally interesting. I have more on holiday preparations, but it occurs to me that I need to check the little one for pine needles.

Do the locomotion

Yesterday evening, Lily and I were deadlocked in what was, most likely, my most ridiculous parent moment to date. In the last post, I wrote briefly about her growing coordination. In addition to sitting unsupported for a few minutes at a time, she also enjoys doing backbends during diaper changes. She manages this by anchoring the back of her head and feet to the table and pushing her hips up while her arms flail wildly or grab at her diaper.

I try to encourage her gymnastics, primarily because they are hilarious to watch, but also because I think that somewhere down the line it will pay off for her. During tummy time, I'll place a toy just out of her reach. She will scoot forward for the toy, again using her head to bear weight, while she humps her back up, stretches her arms forward, then straightens out again, minutely closer to her goal. She got smart on me recently and started pulling the blanket toward her rather than moving.

If she's on her back, you can offer her your hands and she will pull up to sitting with very little encouragement. Give her another beat and she will pull up to standing. In fact, as I'm writing, she's standing on the couch with Glenn, shimmying like one of those windsock people in front of a car lot. The girl is talented.

But her fine motor skills are also pretty amazing, which is where our little story picks back up. I had Lily sitting in her vibrating bouncy seat while I made egg salad. She calmly watched while I peeled and chopped my eggs; as soon as the salad was assembled I placed it back in the refrigerator while my bread toasted and I plopped down on the floor to play for a few minutes. Unsnapping the restraint belt, I let her practice sitting up, then realized that every time I brought my face closer, she would giggle madly. So, we did that for a while. This is when she decides it's time to multitask.

I should probably mention that I recently had bangs cut, and they are exactly the wrong length; they don't go behind my ears but they're too long to sit on my forehead either. Anyhow, I'm going in for the umpteenth time, when, with alarming quickness and dexterity for someone so little and generally undeveloped, Lily reaches up and grabs ahold of those stupid bangs. She pulls hair in general, so I thought I could easily release her doughy fists and move on. Not so.

After shaking and tugging my bangs-turned-reins, she started digging her hands in, grasping the most sensitive roots near my temples, and pulled me forward until she could place her forehead against mine. As I attempted to pull away, I realized the little monster was trying to stand up. This is when I lose it. As much as it hurt, the realization that she had thought this out and was so set on her trajectory had me laughing uncontrollably. My sudden outburst startled her, and she removed her forehead from mine for a second to look at my face. Finally gaining a toehold, I took control of the situation.

I pried a finger into each of her fists and slowly extricated them from my aching, and newly tangled, hair. I gently placed her back into her bouncy, unwinding several hairs held hostage by her greedy fingers. Finally, I went back to making my sandwich, equally cursing the stylist who gave me these perfectly wrong bangs and feeling grateful to have had such a laugh with my dexterous little girl.